"She also told me that this," I pointed between the two of us for fear that I was being presumptuous saying the word relationship out loud, "wasn't off-limits anymore.”
He crossed his arms and skirted around my statement completely. "I wasn't sure if you'd come," he admitted, taking another minuscule step toward me. Each time I inhaled I was overwhelmed with a mix of bodywash and cologne. My breathing picked up so that I could get another intoxicating whiff as soon as the last one faded.
"I couldn't let Becca come by herself. She took a ton of crap from Tara because of me… and she really wanted to see Penn."
“Are you here just to support Becca?” There was a touch of anger in his voice that hadn’t been there a moment before.
I mashed my lips together and shook my head, unable to form the actual word, no.
"Are you going to swim later?" I asked, changing the subject to neutral territory.
"We’ll see," he answered with a confident air. He wasn’t going to give in easily. I clearly had some groveling to do.
I peered behind him toward the pool and his hand reached out to touch my arm gently. "Hey, you should go find Becca and Penn for a minute. I've gotta finish that conversation with my agent or I'll have to set up a meeting with her this week." His tone made it clear that he was less than enthused to leave my side, and I took it as a good sign.
"Okay... the agent that you definitely don’t think is pretty?" I quipped, only half joking.
He smiled as if my jealousy amused him, then he bent low and enunciated every single syllable of his next sentence.
"She's not Kinsley Bryant."
Damn. A witty retort involving another girl named Kinsley Bryant he might have known was on the tip of my tongue, but he kissed my cheek and went to find his agent before I could utter a word. I watched him walk away, realizing that my attraction to Liam Wilder was back in full force. I’d pushed aside the addiction for the past few days, thinking that if I focused on soccer I could pretend that he didn’t exist. Yeah, no. My brain took that as some kind of reverse psychology crap, and instead, I thought about him all day every day.
The time for bullshit and games was over. I wanted him and now there was nothing stopping me.
Chapter Nineteen
I stood there for a moment, absorbing the last few moments, before realizing I was standing in the middle of the party by myself. I was supposed to be mingling and enjoying my youth, not looking like a mute loner.
I raised my Greyhound to my lips, letting the bitter grapefruit flavor roll over my tongue as I scanned the crowd. Let’s see, there was a group of well-dressed yuppies sipping on craft beer, two models wiping white dust off each other’s nostrils, and a group of socialites texting on their phones instead of looking at one another. I didn't recognize anyone around me, and Becca and Penn must have gotten lost on their tour because they still weren't back yet.
Just as I was about to give up hope and head back to the bartender (who was essentially paid to be friendly to me), I spotted a pair of Liam and Josh's teammates. They were the guys that gave me jell-o shots on my nineteenth birthday, and when I made eye contact with one of them, they waved me over. Just like that, I went from the president of the wall flower club to standing in-between two hot guys. Ha! Life was looking up.
We all reintroduced ourselves even though we had hazy memories of one another from the night a few weeks ago. Cole was the goalie for the LA Stars and he was a beast of a man. He wore his hair much too long for my taste and he had a long beard that looked like he'd grown it out on a dare. Oliver played defense for the Stars and looked the part. He was tall and toned enough to resemble the hulk.
"This is such a nice house," I said before taking a sip of my drink.
"Yeah, Penn always throws the best parties here,” Cole said.
"Although none of them could top your birthday celebration," Oliver said with a friendly wink.
I groaned. "Can we forget about how drunk I was that night?"
Oliver laughed. "Well at least your cheek healed up nicely."
The group laughed and I started to relax. They really were nice guys.
"We heard the ULA girls are coming to watch one of our games soon. It's a preseason game, but it'll be a good match," Cole mentioned.
That was news to me, but it made sense. Coach Davis probably wanted us to watch how a professional team worked together.
"That'll be fun."
"Did you come here by yourself?" Oliver asked with a curious expression.
I glanced around me, trying to spy Becca so I could point her out to them. Finally, I spotted her and Penn chatting with a group across the room. She noticed me pointing and sent us a little wave.
"No, I came with my friend, Becca. She's on the team with me."
"Ah, Penn's girl," Oliver nodded before taking a swig of beer.
I smiled at his assessment. Becca would love to know that's how the team referred to her.
"Does he talk about her a lot?" I asked, sounding passably casual.